Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Pot Stickers

Another of my brother Tim's specialties. Usually my Tim and I made an untraditional Thanksgiving dinner, the day after Thanksgiving. One year we decided to try potstickers and the recipe has evolved over the years. As usual I will let Tim describe his methods...

This one's undergoing continual refinement, they're still not as good as my favorite Chinese restaurant's (have to try rice flour one day) so the ingredients and their amounts should be taken very liberally.

For the filler, I used a packet of ground pork meat, ginger (about the size of my thumb), chives (a lot), a splash of wine, about 2 tsp of corn starch, sesame oil and various spices (off the top of my head: onion powder, garlic powder and white pepper). And this time, (remember, continual refinement) I blended it in the Cuisinart; very messy, but much better consistency than trying to finely chop the ginger.

The dough is a very simple recipe. It's a two-to-one ratio of flour to warm water. So I think I started with 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of water, but I almost definitely made more because a package of ground meat goes along way. (Don't overstuff! You'll see why)

So anyway, knead the dough until it's a nice consistency but not sticky.

Pinch off a bit of dough with some flour and a bowl of water on standby. Flatten out the bit of dough and cut it in half into two triangularish shapes.

This one looks nice but it and some of it's brothers were massive,
which makes them too doughy, and they leaked

Place a spoonful (no more) in the center and fold (somehow)

Cut off the extra bit of dough that will form around the edges. This also creates a nice seal.

Squeezing out the last bit of dough

Heat oil in a wok (peanut oil plus a splash of sesame works best), high temperature and when hot throw in 2 or three potstickers and fry them for about a minute.

Then, (this is the tricky bit) add some water (I'm still working on how much, best results seems to be less than 1/2 a cup) and cover the wok immediately.

To make sure the meat's completely cooked, I recommend leaving them in for at least ten minutes. If they're not browned when you uncover them, you've added too much water. fry them a little longer uncovered. Between batches you may have to dump out or even scrub the wok (another reason we don't overstuff)

For sauce, Teriyaki and a little chili oil works nice. Or Hoisin if you prefer sweet

Bubba says "No chili oil for me, thanks. Not after that time with the over spiced mushrooms!"